I am a college professor, and one of my students has asked for a recommendation for a program sponsored by a group I find deeply offensive. I do not want to punish her for holding controversial political views, but I also do not want to support an education in what I consider hateful ideas. Must I write this letter? -- John Drabinski, Grand rapids, Mich.

ou need not -- and I suspect cannot -- write this recommendation. Your disapproval of the sponsoring group would temper the passion you could bring to the task, and a lukewarm letter of reference is no reference at all. Tell this to your student and suggest she find someone else to write the letter.

Even if your conscience allowed you to write her recommendation, you would not be required to. She's asking you not simply to report on her work in your class -- which you are obliged to do -- but also to tout the contributions she would make to this group's endeavors, to elucidate how her personal qualities would aid their particular goals. To provide this endorsement is not a professional obligation; it is a favor you can grant or withhold.

You should not capriciously refuse to write such letters, of course; do so only when high principles are involved. In other words, you should not decline if she wants to do something you disapprove of but that otherwise falls within the range of choices our culture deems acceptable -- like work for People magazine rather than The Nation. You ought not hold her hostage to your ideology. But to demur in this case, which I understand involves a hate group, is not to control her career paternalistically, but to reasonably express your own deeply held values.

There are some letters that you must write. For instance, it is part of your job to evaluate a student's classroom performance. If she asks for a general letter of reference that she can send to various employers, you should provide it. But it is not part of your job to aid the personnel department of, say, the Augusto Pinochet Summer Workshop in Torture, Murder and Dance.

My friend and I buy senior tickets through Moviefone, which does not define "senior." The theaters we attend offer lower prices to those over 62; we are both 55. However, we are members of AARP, which you can join at 50, so by that measure, we are seniors. The ticket takers never notice the type of ticket, and given how outrageous movie prices have become, is what we are doing unethical? -- J.N., Queens

I'm afraid that what you are doing is indeed unethical. You're going to the movies on tickets to which you're not entitled. Your saying that the AARP (which used to be called the American Association of Retired Persons) defines senior as 50 is beside the point. I define senior as "anyone older than me," but that has little clout at the box office. The movie theater is entitled to set its own prices. And while tickets are indeed expensive, so are beachfront houses on Cape Cod, and you don't get to work a little fiddle to get yourself one of those either -- which is too bad, because I love the beach. Furthermore, while a ticket taker may be inattentive, that does not mean you get to slip her an unauthorized ticket or swipe her wallet. Much that is possible remains, alas, unethical.

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